2016 | A fresh start: 4 smoothies

Happy New Year darlings! I hope you had a couple of wonderful weeks. I always love the holidays but also start to long for a fresh start. So here's to 2016, to a great year, to making new memories, to eating lots of good food!

I am so glad 2015 is over. Last year was just a little too eventful. Maybe you remember that during the summer I wrote a bit about my career? I never quite told what exactly happened. I just wasn't ready. Now I am. In the name of closure.

So this is how it went. Since my gradutation I've been working as a desk editor at the public radio & tv, here in The Netherlands. I was the lucky girl who got a job right away, at the top news organization in the country. It has always been my dream to be a journalist (hey, I was and still am a huge Gilmore Girls fan, go Rory!), but over time I started to develop a new interest: culinary writing. I wanted to find a job where I could combine both writing and my love for food. After a few failed tries I got a job with a "food coach". He promised me I could blog about health and food and also help people with questions about those topics.

I couldn't be happier, until I started working there. I don't want to bother you with why this definitely wasn't the right place for me, but let's say people aren't always the way you expect or hope them to be. There was a lack of trust. So I went with my gut feeling and quit. In retrospect the best decision of 2016.

Right after I decided to take some time to think about what I really wanted. And this is what I realized: when push comes to shove I am a journalist, and I do like to write about news, just not every day. So I became a freelance journalist. I asked and got my old job back, but instead of working five shifts a week I'm now only there for 2 or 3 days a week. I also started working for one of the biggest women magazines in The Netherlands. It's a nice change from all the serious and sometimes depressing news we broadcast at the public radio & tv.

This freelance construction also allowed me to do what I love most: develop and invest in Let's talk evergreen. I really LOVE that you are all here with me. That you are willing to read about my life, my passion for food, and all the other things I am interested in. THANK you for that. I can't say it enough.

In the end, things turned out for the best. I still don't know what I want to be 'when I grow up', but did realize through all of this what I don't want. And I believe that if you combine all of those don'ts you eventually end up discovering what you do want. Thus, goodbye 2015. I've learned a great deal during this past year, but I am very ready for a fresh start.

This also applies to my diet. Gosh, I ate so unhealthy these past weeks. No discipline whatsoever... But not anymore. It is back to normal: fresh, seasonal, and mostly healthy food from now on. Avoiding gluten, dairy and unrefined sugars for the most part. Not a detox, just paying attention.

I developed four easy, diverse, and delicious smoothie recipes for you. Each recipe makes enough for two persons. If you like you can freeze what is left. I did at least. Perfect for early mornings when there's not enough time to prepare breakfast. Just remove from the freezer the night before and it'll be liquid in the morning.

Pomegranate & mango smoothie w/ chamomile

Stressed out? Make this fruity drink with calming chamomile tea and you'll feel much better.